NATIONAL SECURITY TECHNOLOGIES, LLC

The last thing anyone wants to gamble on, even in Vegas, is national security. National Securities Technologies (NSTec) deals primarily with nuclear stockpiles and national security issues. It manages operations at the Nevada Test Site, as well as related laboratories and facilities. NSTec has three core programs: Defense Experimentation and Stockpile Stewardship (monitoring and maintaining nuclear weapons), Environmental Management (nuclear material handling and storage), and Homeland Security & Defense Applications (national defense matters and security and threat prevention). NSTec is a joint venture set up by Northrop Grumman, CH2M HILL, AECOM, and Babcock & Wilcox in 2006.

Geographic Reach

Headquartered in Las Vegas, NSTec has sites in North Las Vegas and Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada; Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland; Los Alamos and Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Livermore and Santa Barbara, California. Satellite offices reside in New Mexico; California; and Washington, DC, along with nine other states in the US.

Operations

Each of the companies involved in the joint venture contribute their own expertise to NSTec and its programs. Northrop Grumman is a leader in operations management and defense technologies, while AECOM brings experience at the Nevada Test Site (aka Nevada National Security Site) in architecture and engineering. CH2M Hill specializes in environmental and waste management. Babcock & Wilcox has dealt with nuclear operations as a provider of nuclear fuel to the US Navy.

NSTec's central focus is managing operations at the Nevada Test Site for the US Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration. Among other roles, NSTec is responsible for the technical administration of Nevada Test Site programs. Many of the programs were originally established by the Atomic Energy Commission, which also set up the site decades ago and tested atomic and nuclear weapons there. (Nuclear weapons testing was halted by Congress in the 1990s. Today, the 1,360 sq. mile site is used for hazardous chemical spill testing, conventional weapons testing, and other purposes, including evaluation and training.

Additionally, NSTec collaborates with engineering and science research organizations, including the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, for work on its programs.

NSTec designs, fabricates, and tests electro-optic and recording systems for capturing fast transient signals (short-lived signals), which are used in field operations under severe environmental conditions. Its Livermore Operations in California oversees research, development, and testing of electronic, laser, and instrument engineering.

The joint venture also focuses on homeland security, defense applications, and environmental management.

Sales and Marketing

In addition to its work with the DOE, NSTec works with other federal agencies such as the US Air Force, Army, and Navy, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, NASA, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Strategy

Upgrading its technology, in 2014 NSTec selected a new Avaya unified communication and video platform to modernize the infrastructure used by its clients in order to enhance collaboration and significantly reduce operating costs.

In 2013 the company joined forces with UNLV, Georgia Tech, Georgia Tech Research Institute, and Dynasil Radiation Measurement Devices, to develop new sensors that will be more effective in detecting radioactive materials that terrorists might try to smuggle across US borders or into major cities.

That year NSTec was awarded four Sustainability Awards from the National Nuclear Security Administration for projects that promote energy efficiency. It also issued a contract to use a new scanner for applied research on nuclear detection technology developed by Decision Sciences International of Virginia.